Why Buyers Really Pay More

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Value

WHY BUYERS REALLY PAY MORE

P

icture this: Years ago—before cell phones—you take a cross-country trip alone across the desert. At the most desolate stretch, you run out of gas and clunk off to the side of the road.

You can’t believe it, but this is certainly a time to face reality. All you can see is sand and cactus all the way to the horizon in every direction.

You were in a rush when you left, so you went light on supplies. You have but a minimum amount of water, and no extra gas. But you’re not worried. Surely there will be passers-by who will help.

The only person who passes by during the entire first day is a guy selling a 10-gallon tank of gas—for $2000.00. He looks like a pirate and will not rescue you or sell you anything else.

You need that gas desperately, but his predatory gouging makes you so angry that you tell him to go to the nether regions. You assume the next person who drives by will surely help; you’ll get gas, you’ll be given water, and you’ll be able to move on. Everything will be fine.

Nobody comes for most of the second day. You are out of water and now desperate. You could die out there. As last someone appears—the gas peddler. And now his price is $5000.00. Would you pay it?

Value Is the Engine of Persuasion

Value is defined as “monetary or material worth, or worth as measured in usefulness or importance, or a fair return for something.” Value is the buyer’s comparison of personal benefit received to the price paid. Value powers persuasion. So what is your product or program worth to a buyer? To answer that question, you must first consider some of these tough realities:

·  Buyers are very well trained.

The Wal-Mart concept that they can beat your price somewhere else permeates the thinking of today’s buyers.

Some buyers automatically tell all sellers they can buy whatever is being offered for less because many sellers immediately lower their price without further pressure.

Can your buyer really get your total program cheaper? And better? Is the lower price they would pay your competitor their only cost? Do you have to give away the profit in the sale to close it?

I ask every attendee in my sales seminars, “Is the buyer better trained in resistance than you are in persuasion?” Think about that.

·  The cost to everyone of giving away money.

Sellers don’t want to give away their profits, but it’s done every day. Unfortunately, many salespeople offer to sell for less at the first sign of price resistance. Fear of losing the sale makes them think, “Why not give away some profit and just bring this business in?” This attitude puts heavy downside pressure on prices for all competitors; everybody in that particular field then faces a tougher task in maintaining profitability.

·  Value is belief on the part of the seller and perception on the part of the buyer.

First, a buyer must believe in, and be able to validate, that what they’re being offered is worth the extra money. Sellers seeking profitable sales must have better trained people, a better service program, and testimonials from happy buyers to support their position.

Second, A SalesMind must be able to generate in the buyer’s mind a clear, advantageous perception of comparative value (versus the competition) to accomplish persuasion.

·  Worth over sacrifice.

If a SalesMind does not have an offering of inherent or added value greater in importance than the buyer’s perceived value of their money, then the SalesMind will not earn the buyer’s money.

·  Value is multi-dimensional.

Value has different dimensions, each impacting a buyer’s perception in its own way. The key is for the total value perception to be strong enough to tilt (leverage) a decision to transact your way, and at the best possible margin. Those value dimensions are:

·  Universal Value

·  Specific Business Value

·  Personal Life Value

·  Credibility Value

·  Uniqueness Value

You must understand and articulate all of these value dimensions with the buyer to enhance their value perception.

In persuasion, a buyer’s value perception is a SalesMind’s value position.

Universal Value

“You can get anything you want in life if you will help enough other people get what they want.”

¾¾ Zig Ziglar

Every human being wants to feel good and reduce pain. They buy products and services that possess the ability to make those contributions. I call this “Universal Value,” and this is the platform on which a SalesMind operates in their dealings with buyers. Buyers spend money (which incurs risk) and implicitly say to the seller, “I will spend money if you will help me to…

feel safer

be more loved

reduce my costs

alleviate my pains

make more money

improve my health

gain more confidence

attract more attention

have a better family life

save and use time wisely

get more affection from others

become happier in my life and job

enhance my sense of security with God

ease my fears about today and the future

achieve greater appreciation and recognition

Cut through all the smiles, armor, and plastic with people, and you’ll discover that what most people want in life can be found somewhere in the bell-shaped figure above. Not everyone feels the need for all of them all the time, and some of the desires listed are not necessarily the proper things to seek. However, buyers of all kinds are spending vast sums of money to feed those desires.

SalesMinds persuade buyers with value propositions for reducing pain and increasing gain.

Specific Business Value (SBV)

Specific Business Value is the exact combination of value experiences that a buyer gets from a transaction with your company involving you, the product, the program, and all service aspects. It is the anchor of the value experience.

The role of the SalesMind in helping contribute SBV is based on possessing answers to the four fundamental questions regarding buyer choice, buyer spending, buyer perception, and buyer viewpoint:

One: What Choices Does a Buyer Have?

·  They can buy from you (excellent).

·  They can buy from your competitor (not so excellent).

·  They can postpone the decision, possibly for a long time.

·  They can do the job internally.

·  They can cancel the job and save the money.

So, let’s take a look at why buyers spend money so that you become their choice:

Two: What Are the Basic Reasons Why a Buyer Spends Money?

·  To make more money than the expenditure.

·  To reduce costs above the expenditure.

·  To make their own (or their employees) life easier and more satisfying.

·  To save or reallocate time.

A SalesMind must align those reasons with buyer perception.

Three: How Does the Seller Test If the Buyer Is Perceiving Value?

A seller must be able to answer value questions from the buyer’s perspective. If a customer has paid you before, that value perception is based on reflection. If a prospect has never bought from you, that value perception is based on anticipation.

Your presentation and position with the buyer should be able to pass “the value test” on the next page, which is focused on buyer perception. Remember, it’s not what you say or how you say it. What matters is how your communication is perceived.

The Value Test

Are you perceived to be valuable to a buyer because you are or will become:

·  A direct asset to produce revenue, profits, cash flow, and transactions for them?

·  A helper with their marketability, market access, promotion, and advertising?

·  An asset to help them ingest and manage change to advantage?

·  A partner who is able to reduce their risks, costs, and add efficiency?

·  A problem-solver, case-analyzer for them?

·  An aid to their leadership, future position, and vision?

·  An asset in helping their staff people to be more effective and productive?

·  A connecting point of your own management and staff to them?

·  A contributor to the positive emotional climate of their business?

·  An influence to increase the effectiveness of their communications?

·  A source to increase the effectiveness of their information management?

·  A partner to help them conduct faster business?

·  A source of knowledge to help in their decision-making?

·  A public relations or image-enhancer for them?

·  An element to add worth for their owners, investors, or shareholders?

If you can honestly say you are even asking, let alone answering these questions in an affirmative way, you understand what it will take to become a value-added SalesMind.

One of my clients, a Fortune Two Hundred company, needed to stop and then reverse their eroding leverage so they could enhance their value position. Nothing less than achieving this company-wide would enable them to increase their prices and margins.

To accomplish that objective, we rolled out a customized version of my SalesMind training model in two of their divisions, district by district. We did workshops with managers, salespeople, and staff people to get tough answers that could be communicated within the organization and to buyers. Some of the value questions we answered and then implemented were:

·  Do you believe that you are worth the price you are asking for?

·  Why exactly (every day) are you valuable to your buyers?

·  Are you prepared to render the service necessary to command higher prices?

·  What is your first immediate action to improve your daily performance?

Not only have these workshops produced immediate results and continue to have a tremendous financial impact for my client, but they have also enhanced the lives of many of the attendees. I get a constant stream of letters and emails from employees who want to lead and be of value, and who want to possess personal and team leverage. They wanted to reach their value objectives quickly, and they have achieved them. What about you?

Four: How Does the Customer’s Viewpoint Differ from the Prospect’s Viewpoint Regarding Value?

Customers. Because of their transaction history with you, they are already experiencing some sense of value, low or high. They can reflect on it. That positive value must be maintained and accelerated because the customer will continuously evaluate its worth in relation to their price position with you.

Prospects. With no history with you, prospects merely have a sense of anticipated value that is perceived to take place after the first transaction. To leverage that buyer perception and confidence, ask yourself:

·  How much of my information has my buyer absorbed?

·  How much of that information has value?

·  How much time so far have I spent with decision-makers?

·  How much competition is in this proposal equation?

·  How much desire do I discern in the buyer for us to be their sole source of supply?

I understand that a buyer takes a risk in buying from me for the first time. To overcome this, I must expend extra effort to sell first-time buyers.

How much desire have I placed in the buyer’s mind for us to be their unique source or solution? Since there is no established reference point of history with you, they will ask questions:

·  What is your product or service?

·  What will it do, and how does your program work?

·  What will it do for me?

·  How can you prove your claims?

·  Who besides you says your program is great?

Later on in this chapter, we will examine in more detail these credibility value issues.

Prospects who ask these questions must perceive value through their connection with you, through their examination of your satisfied buyers, through the tailored benefits of your offering in a presentation, and through the persistence of your follow-up to earn their business.

Creating strong value perception in prospects to buy only from you—and to buy from you now—is one of the most powerful skills a SalesMind can possess.

For persuasion to occur, a buyer must perceive that they will experience specific business value.

Personal Life Value

The answer to the following question is all that ultimately matters to a buyer: How does my relationship with you help me in my personal life? Please, anyone, prove me wrong about making this assertion. I’ve issued that challenge many times—with no takers.

Most buyers work to live, not live to work. The ultimate goal of any business transaction is to enhance the customer’s personal emotional quality of life, period. A buyer’s life is their play (not to sound too Shakespearian), and their business with you is just one minor scene from one act of that play.

This element of knowledge put into sales action is what separates a SalesMind from the rest of the herd. You are presented with two intense challenges:

1.  Gathering.

You must research, gather, ask about, investigate, and assemble a complete personal profile in a written record on every customer and prospect. That information must involve family, travels, habits, likes, dislikes, and associations as a base of understanding what that buyer desires. You have to either acquire this data from direct conversations with your buyer or get it from asking staff people that work for them.

2.  Delivering.